


five adorable things - steeb and bucko

by darth_stitch



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5 Things, Avengers Family, Beard Burn, Fluff, Humor, Kitten America, M/M, OTP: Not Without You, OTP: stupidly adorable nonagenarians, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Romance, count buckula
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 06:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3885178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darth_stitch/pseuds/darth_stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Steve and Bucky are stupid in love with each other and are happy to count the ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. five adorable things about steve rogers - compiled by bucky barnes

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at The Blanket Fort [HERE](http://darthstitch.tumblr.com/post/117602610996/five-adorable-things-about-steve-rogers-compiled) and [HERE](http://darthstitch.tumblr.com/post/118185842471/five-adorable-things-about-bucky-barnes-compiled)

**Five**

Steve Rogers has always looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. 

The key word here is _look_.  Reality is another thing altogether, as Bucky knows.

So he gets away with saying things like _“Language!”_ reprovingly because there is a time and place for swearing and Steve will certainly not swear around little pitchers with ginormous ears and ladies…. well, okay, basically the rule is, not to swear in a situation that would make Sarah Rogers grab him by the ear to wash out his mouth with soap. 

Otherwise - and hell, he learned how to swear from his Ma, to be honest - he makes swearing a second, beautiful language in itself.  Combined with _that_ face of his, well… 

“He’s Irish and he’s still got his roots in Brooklyn,” Bucky explains with a grin, even as he tries to make any and all inappropriate thoughts not so visible on his face.  

It’s not fooling Natasha, who slants him a knowing look.  

In the meantime, Tony Stark is gleefully recording Steve giving _General Ross_ the dressing down of his life, for the latest attempt to “secure” the Hulk.  

“Asking a Brooklynite not to swear is like expecting warm snow to fall from the heavens,” Clint says sagely.  

Everyone looks at him.  Except for Bucky, who gives him a high five and a “Damn fucking straight.” 

Clint spreads his hands.  Point made.  

A side note - due to certain regulations, the fact that he was really MIA, that he _is_ a Medal of Honor recipient and that he’s still technically U.S. Army, Steve’s rank is….. well, let’s just say he _outranks_ General Ross. 

The “Captain” is really just a nickname now.  

In the meantime, Tony’s recording _somehow_ ends up on YouTube.  #CaptainSwearmerica becomes trending. 

**Four**

“No, really, have you heard of this concept of _making sure your shirts fit?”_ Sam asks with exasperation.  

The question is a valid one, being as that they’d just gotten the fifth jogger (this time, this person was apparently male) to run right into a tree while Steve did some stretches.  

The stretches made his shirt - to say nothing about the pants - stretch and flex over his muscles (and ass) in _interesting_ ways.  

Look, it had taken every ounce of Bucky’s own self-discipline _not_ to run into a tree himself, okay? He’d already had his share of traumatic brain injuries to last several lifetimes, thanks.  

“Look, Milo and Bean said they were the right size for me!” Steve said defensively.  

“Steve, buddy, they _lied._   Believe me, they are _lying_ like rugs to you.  Barnes, you back me up here!” 

“Bwuh?”  Look, Steve chose _that_ moment to bend over and if there was _one_ memory that came back quickly, it was the phrase “sweetest ass in Brooklyn”and a man cannot be blamed for his mind short circuiting like that.  

Sam rolls his eyes at him while Steve just gives him that typical shit-eating grin that plainly says, _Yes, I know you’re thinking filthy thoughts about me and I like it._

Bucky gives him an evil grin in return, promising payback. 

Payback was _sweet._   

**Three**

Apparently, there was some kind of law in this universe that Steve Rogers _will_ be bittyfied… oh, like, every time the team comes up against a magic-user who is not Wanda Maximoff or Spooky O’Connor.  

There was also the Kitten America thing, but that tends to happen on Steve’s own terms now.  Bucky’s gotten used to his boyfriend occasionally going cat and deciding to hang out in his hoodie pocket and purr contentedly.  

Death by Adorable indeed.

The bitty thing? Okay, so according to Spooky, there was _something_ in Erskine’s serum that protected Steve from the _worst_ of the bitty-fication, which explained why Bucky didn’t need to have heart attacks every time bittyfied Steve so much as took a breath out of place.  

“Are you absolutely _sure_ this Doctor Erskine was not a wizard himself?” Wanda asked. 

“If that man wasn’t _Istari_ , I’ll eat my hat,” Spooky muttered.  

Thor was _not_ helping when he said that Wizard!Erskine was a distinct probability. 

But bitty Steve. 

So, bitty Steve, unlike his Big Galoot self (who’s just not affected by the alcohol, because _serum)_ , has a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol.  Again, _Irish._   

However, once the drink _does_ hit him, he becomes an octopus.  

An octopus determined to _cling_ to Bucky all night long, pressing tiny kisses to his neck and his ear and his shoulder, calling him “my best guy, my fella, my _mister_ , you know I love ya, right Buck?” 

The only answer to that is to make sure he had a good handful of the bitty, but still sweet ass, kiss him in return and tell him, _Yes, I love you too, baby._  

Annoyingly, bitty Steve has no hangovers.  

**Two**

_Steve Rogers is never allowed to grow a beard ever again.  
_

“I am not blaming you,” Natasha tells him serenely. 

“He has a _glorious_ beard,” Wanda comments brightly. 

“And look at that face, I mean, it’s just _hard_ to say no, I guess?” Maria Hill added. 

“How did he put it,” Pepper began.  “Four in the morning, _that_ look, off with the boxers…?” 

“Off with everything!” Darcy squeals gleefully.  

“I mean it’s just appropriate _payback,_ “ Natasha picks up the thread again.  “Since you like _nibbling_ on him all the time…” 

Bucky buries his face in his hands.  His face feels like it’s on fire.  Also, grabbing a plane and crashing it into the Arctic is now sounding like the greatest of all ideas _ever._   “Ladies.  _Please.”_

Jane pats him on the arm, “I have just discovered a _much_ better way to deal with beard burn.  Now listen carefully…” 

**One**

Steve has a minor speech impediment that only comes out when he’s very, very tired or very, very drunk. 

Of course, when he’s _big_ , “tired” is more likely than “drunk.”  Still, Bucky’s learned to keep a sharp ear out when Steve starts muttering, “God, I don’t _wike_ it.” 

When “like” turns to “wike” - yep, definitely time to drag off his captain and boyfriend off to bed.  Even if he doesn’t _wike_ it.  

Steve will eventually settle down once Bucky gets them snuggled together in bed and of course, the sweetest thing is when he murmurs, “ _I wike you, though”_ just before he finally drops off into sleep.  

Bucky presses a soft kiss into his hair and just smiles.  “I wike you too, punk.” 

_\- end -_

**Note:**[im-the-punk-who](http://tmblr.co/mnC7zr6XbP-Hs8AODjs4e1A) and [beaniebaneenie](http://tmblr.co/mc9G-J9VH9urXi9mTR29JQg) are officially responsible for Steve Rogers’ shirts in the Blanket Fort universe. 

Milo may also be thanked for Bucky and his occasional use of eyeliner.  :P


	2. five adorable things about bucky barnes - compiled by steve rogers

**Five**

“Does this idiot _not_  understand the concept of _boundaries_  and _no, she is really not that into you?_ Yes, _be_  Switzerland!  Move over there, even! Drop both those losers like hot potatoes. For fuck’s sake!”

Steve has to explain this to a snickering Sam.  Yes, Natasha lent Bucky Certain Novels about Vampires and Werewolves with all the attendant warnings.  Yes, she did it for the entertainment value alone.  Yes, Natasha has a _very_  strange and singular sense of humor. 

Yes, Bucky has a tendency to talk out loud when he’s reading something that really affects him - arguing and swearing at the characters and/or the author will be a given. 

Steve’s used to it by now.  

“Steve, this book’s leeching away what’s left of my intelligence and sanity.  Save me.  Come on.  Steeeeeeeeevie…..” And of course, Steve, God have mercy on his soul, is now confronted with big blue-gray eyes and a definite pout.  He has no defense against these things.  So, Captain America must apply his tactical mind to best defuse the situation. 

He brandishes _The Princess Bride.  “_ Okay, I am going to read this to you.”

Bucky frowns.  “Not that I don’t appreciate the dulcet tones of your voice, baby, but why do you hafta read it to me?” He reaches for the book. 

Steve angles it away.  “I really _need_  to read it to you, Bucky.  And that way, you can argue with it all you want.”  His turn to deploy big pleading eyes.  “Trust me.  Please?”

Fine.  

Steve began.   _This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it…_

**Four**

Once upon a time, James Buchanan Barnes was the absolute _worst_ preening peacock this side of DUMBO.  

Hair? Always neatly combed and pomaded.  

Suits? Maybe he wasn’t Howard Stark, but they fit well and Steve spent many a sleepless night trying _not_ to think too hard about the way broad shoulders filled out the jacket, to say nothing of Bucky’s ass in those pants.  

Once upon a time, Steve made the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Mistake of revealing that he thought Bucky looked an awful lot like Tyrone Power, who was Steve’s secret crush.  

In his defense, he was drunk at the time. 

(Actually, that was _no_ defense at all but….)

So of course, the more that sober!Steve called Bucky a mook, _you tryin’ to break some mirrors there, Buck, we can’t use seven more years of bad luck, we’re pretty full up on that now -_ the more Bucky preened at him and heaven help him, but Steve was so, so very doomed.  

It goes without saying that once Bucky had chosen to come back in from the cold, once he’d come back to Steve and Steve could only hope that it meant _Bucky had come home_ \- well, there was a period of time where he wasn’t able to handle proper grooming and care, other than just making sure he was clean and comfortable.  

The first time he decided to finally cut his hair - he would still keep it long, but neater and less ragged - he handed Steve the scissors and said he’d trust him not to make him look like a complete jerk. 

Steve managed a wobbly smile and complied.  It was pretty damn good, if he said so himself. 

And then, finally, _finally_ , Bucky demanded to know where the hell Steve was getting his _ridiculously_ damn tight t-shirts, _I am telling you, Steve, Sam is right, those people are Evil Incarnate, putting you in outfits that are a threat to man’s sanity - namely mine….  
_

So Steve decided to introduce Bucky to his friends Milo and Bean at the store where he got all his Amazingly Non-Grandpa Outfits™ by Natasha. 

It was Milo who taught Bucky that eyeliner was an essential weapon in any dark-haired, blue-eyed boy’s arsenal.  

After she finished squee-ing, Bean demanded to be allowed to dress Bucky up properly. 

There was only one appropriate reaction to being confronted with a Bucky Barnes who had finally rediscovered how to look good again and revel in it.  

“Fuck me.” 

Bucky’s smile was decidedly predatory.  

**Three**

Endearments tripped off of Bucky’s tongue easily. 

He used to hand them out like candy to the dames – oops, _ladies_ – back in the day.  _Dollface, sweetheart, doll, darlin’ -_ there was always something charming and sweet in the way he said them, so that the result was blushes and a “You’re nothin’ but a sweet-talker, James Buchanan Barnes!” but the ladies would smile and flutter their eyelashes and they were caught all the same.  

And naturally, Steve _never_ wished that Bucky would address an endearment or two in his direction.  Nope.  He was fine with the way they exchanged insults like _punk_ and _jerk_ and _you’re a mook, my hand to God_ and _idiot_ and…. well, you get the idea.  

So the first time Bucky actually called Steve _baby_ was on Steve’s nineteenth birthday, in which he was sick again and recovering from a bout of flu that nearly carried him off this time around.  

Initially, he’d thought he’d imagined the press of Bucky’s lips against his brow and the whispered, _Don’t you go anywhere without me, baby._

But when he was finally awake and aware and Bucky was watching him with suspiciously bright eyes, well… 

“G’mornin’, babydoll.” 

“I ain’t one of your dames, Bucko,” Steve grumbled, trying to ignore the way his heart went beating double-time at the way Bucky’s voice had sounded when he said those words.  Not quite the way he’d talk to his girlfriends or when he was on the make.  Just… there was a strange, aching quality to his voice that did things to Steve’s poor old broken junker of a heart.  

“No you’re not,” Bucky said easily.  “Still my baby though.”  A beat.  “If you’ll have me, that is.” 

Steve blinked.  Maybe his ears were finally going bad too? 

“Your ears are red, Stevie,” Bucky teased.  

“It’s the fever, you mook,” Steve retorted.  

“ _Steve_.” 

Look, he couldn’t be blamed for waiting too long because - _oh God_ \- he’d just come out of a serious illness and - _still Bucky’s baby -_ and - finally, Bucky just sighed and squeezed his fingers and said, “Look, I’m so – “ 

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, James Buchanan Barnes,” Steve said at last, tugging at him, because - _because - “Not without you, you hear me?”_

“Not without you, baby.” 

If those last words were whispered into Steve’s still-red ears, if the next ones were _I love you too_ and _I mean every word - you’re my sweet babydoll, always, always_ \- well, Steve had all the incentive in the world to get better.  And to think of some endearments of his own for his gorgeous guy.  

**Two**

Bucky has no real explanation for the Duckface.  Once upon a time, Steve proposed that maybe Bucky was actually related to _Donald_ and that perhaps Bucky should have considered joining the Navy, instead of the Army.  Plus, Bucky definitely had Donald’s temper, never mind that Steve was not quite a shining example of calm and peacefulness himself.  

The resulting argument - never mind that Steve was bitty at the time - was the reason why there was a chip on Bucky’s dinner plate and the reason why Steve’s Ma’s prized tea set was missing a teacup.  

There was a great deal of glee when Steve, knowing of Bucky’s background and being very fond of Bucky’s fanged Grampy, discovered one of the Barnes family’s long-lost cousins.  

_Count Duckula._   

Again, there was an argument, but as Bucky had already realized that his making _duckfaces_ was really an open invitation for Steve to kiss him stupid, nothing got broken this time. 

Well, maybe a couple of shirts got ripped.  But that was an acceptable loss. 

**One**

Occasionally…. no, this word implies that it only happens _sometimes,_ when the truth is, it happens _all the time._ So, let’s rephrase that. 

Steve has learned to accept that he will be pounced on by his lovable mook of a boyfriend at any given time of the day (or night).  

He never really startles when Bucky wraps himself around him, nuzzling close, sneaking a kiss at wherever is most convenient - neck, shoulder, ear - and feeling careful fingers slip their way beneath his shirt. 

The best way to deal with his purring, tomcat of a boyfriend is to simply turn and kiss him back, thread their fingers close and murmur something sweet in return.  

Because Bucky had told him that there were many, _many_ times in their past when he’d longed to show Steve all of the affection he wanted, but had been forced to keep his silence.  And there were many, _many_ times in their past that Steve had felt exactly the same.  

And there were far too many moments in this future, before he’d learned that Bucky was alive, that Steve had spent _regretting._

So now, with both of them alive and together, and no longer constrained to be…. _silent,_ Steve lets Bucky snuggle and purr as much as he likes.  

He gets to snuggle and purr back.  

_\- end -_

**Note:** Fluff?  Y/y?


End file.
